Video games are an established part of popular culture, and frequently used in educational settings worldwide. There is now a substantive body of research suggesting positive outcomes of their use in classrooms. In spite of this, there is a dearth of research synthesizing the outcomes of these studies. This is particularly so in relation to the…

This book illuminates the lived experience of a group of primary school children engaged in virtual world play during a year-long after-school club. Shaped by post-structuralist theory and New Literacy Studies, it outlines a playful, participatory and emergent methodological approach, referred to as 'rhizomic ethnography'. This 'hybrid' text uses…

Low mathematics scores in the U.S. have been pressing educators to find engaging strategies and effective tools to promote math performance. While emerging technologies, such as digital math games, show promises in improving mathematical education, existing studies have garnered mixed findings and thereby necessitating further investigation. This…

Massive and timely screening of the student population for early signs of reading difficulties is needed to implement timely effective remediation of these difficulties. However, traditional approaches are costly and hard to apply. Here, we present Lexiland, a tablet-based reading assessment tool for kindergarten and primary school children…

Immersive virtual reality (VR) is a technology that can be effective for procedural skills training through game-based simulations such as serious games. The current study describes the instructional design, development, and evaluation of the FSCHOOL fire preparedness serious game in a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE-VR) for elementary…

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of Minecraft-based coding activities on computational thinking (CT) of middle school students. In the study, CT was conceptualized so that it encapsulates not only the knowledge of computational concepts (e.g., loops and conditionals) but also the use of CT practices (e.g., testing and debugging).…

Student fluency in mathematics is important, as fluency supports mathematics proficiency and achievement. While fluency can be supported with flashcards and worksheets, it can be supported by games. In this exploratory study, researchers examined the relationship between students' fluency on addition with regrouping problems and playing a virtual…

We are witnessing an excitement about digital games and related immersive media as these become ever more prevalent in the world. Governments, private companies, and research institutes are investing in these technologies in hopes of transforming education. However, while scholarship on digital game-based learning has been steadily growing over…

The fifth-grade boys at an elementary school in Texas consistently perform lower than girls on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading portion. The gender gap in reading is not exclusive to this school. Boys score lower than girls on state-administered reading assessments each year in the United States (U.S.) and have…

Background: Goal setting has been established in the literature as a critical component of self-regulated learning and for effective problem-solving. Yet, surprisingly little attention has been focused on goal-directed behaviour in digital game-based learning environments (GBLEs) despite their expanding use in educational contexts. Objectives: The…

This study explored the relationship between digital gaming and creativity by conducting a meta-analysis of effect sizes using data from 78 effect sizes in 19 studies encompassing 3,172 samples. We employed a two-level multivariate model with a robust variance estimator and conducted separate analyses for between-subject and within-subject…

This research aimed to explore the views of 8th grade students on digital game-based English language learning as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 69 students between the ages of 12 and 14 participated in the study. Students' vocabulary acquisition skills were tested using a web 2.0 application called "Quizziz." The study utilized a…

Learning in a virtual environment has been found to foster students' affective responses, indicating the importance of exploring the factors which affect students' learning when engaged in a virtual game. This study aimed to explore the relationships among students' epistemic curiosity, situational interest, and learning engagement in an…

The goal of the current study was to examine the perceptions of elementary school principals regarding the value of integrating digital games in teaching and learning and the steps they take to promote this initiative. The study was conducted using a qualitative-narrative methodology to analyze data retrieved through semi-structured in-depth…

The present research analyses the impact that the time spent on the Internet by primary school (3rd and 6th grade) students may have on their academic progression in terms of test scores. In order to go beyond a correlational analysis, we have applied a time fixed-effects estimation using a recent longitudinal database of 15,974 students from the…